Stompin' Gold

The studio behind Book of Dead has spent the last two years drifting away from the ancient-tomb staple and into experimental territory. Stompin' Gold is a yeti-themed slot built on Play'n GO's GO Collect engine, which is the studio's answer to the cash-collect mechanic that Pragmatic and Hacksaw have been milking for half a decade. The yetis stomp, the wilds grow, the Hold'n Grow respin chain kicks in, and the math runs faster than most Play'n GO releases I've logged this year.

BigWinBoard confirms the studio-published figures at 96.2% RTP and high volatility. The max win quoted by the studio is 50,000x stake, which is genuinely large by Play'n GO standards and on par with the studio's heavier Reactor and Maze releases. The Hold'n Grow respin is where most of that ceiling lives; growing Wilds that stick across respins can produce single-screen wins that finish a session in one chain.

The yeti theme works better than I expected. Cartoon snow monsters could have been catastrophe; the studio sells the bit with confident art and a soundtrack that resists the urge to be cute. The stomp animation is the kind of small touch that gives the slot a personality, and the GO Collect cash values keep the base game from feeling like a holding pattern.

It's the most fun I've had with a Play'n GO release in a while, which is faint praise from a critic, but it's an honest read.